FSC Forest Week kicks-off with a full weekend of activities including an experiential learning event at Taman Tugu, Kuala Lumpur…

The Forest Stewardship Council^® (FSC^®) Forest Week (previously FSC Friday) is a global campaign dedicated to raising awareness on the importance of forests and responsible forest management. From 24 - 30 September, we are highlighting the value of forests and how choosing sustainably-sourced products can help create resilient forests for now, and the future.

Experiential event at Taman Tugu

At FSC Malaysia, we kicked-off this campaign with an experiential event at Taman Tugu, an urban forest in Kuala Lumpur, on 24 September 2022, aimed at celebrating and appreciating forests and forest-based products.

We would like to convey our appreciation to everyone who made it to the event, and expressed their words of encouragement and support for responsible forest management and FSC!

Thank you to our partners for their support, and amazing group of volunteers, in making this event a success:

1. CIMB, for sponsoring the event and supporting us in more ways than one, including featuring our event at The Cooler Earth Sustainability Summit 2022 platform, and showing your unwavering support towards sustainability.
2. Free Tree Society, for leading the guided forest walk featuring talks on climate change and biodiversity, and a planting workshop featuring native tree species in Taman Tugu. The participants sowed Merbau (the country’s national tree) seeds as well as Jering seeds.
3. The Green Factory, for the art on wood workshop enabling participants to discover a better understanding of the concept of material upcycling and how used wood can be transformed into further purposeful items, and sharing some fun facts about timber/forestry.
4. Kimberly-Clark Professional, Malaysia and STAEDTLER Malaysia for sponsoring our campaign assets and prize for the Scavenger Hunt, respectively.  

The day’s agenda included a presentation by FSC Malaysia Country Manager, Charmaine Chee and a Scavenger Hunt activity for kids led by FSC Malaysia Communications and Market Development Manager, Kar Kay Han.

The presentation served to enlighten participants about why forests matters, the importance of protecting them through responsible forest management, the role of FSC in creating healthy, resilient forests for all forever through its rigorous standards, FSC’s checkmark-tree logo and the meaning of FSC labels, and the value of FSC for various business sectors, including:

• Construction & Building, and Interior, Furniture, Household and Personal Care, explaining sustainable wood as a carbon sink, storing carbon over the wood’s entire life cycle.
• Fashion
• Paper & Packaging
• Natural rubber
• Other forest products such as bamboo, nuts, honey, and cork

This interactive session provided a great opportunity to communicate about the role of responsibly managed forests in addressing the climate crisis and biodiversity loss, in addition to improving the livelihoods of communities, as the participants actively engaged in the session, showing deep interest in FSC standards, certification and trademark use.  A video on what a healthy FSC-certified forest looks like was shown.

Meanwhile, the Scavenger Hunt (designed for kids between 8 and 15 years old, accompanied by a parent or guardian) is aimed at enriching participants’ knowledge of forests, the role of plant and animal species, and the living component within the forests. Participants went on a hunt for native tree species, insects, and other living components in Taman Tugu, before they returned for a short discussion on the importance of forests and the role of each component.

Kimberly-Clark Malaysia jungle clean-up activity

FSC Malaysia also participated in jungle cleanup activity, organized by Kimberly-Clark Malaysia, through its Business-to-Business (B2B) division Kimberly-Clark Professional as well as brands Kleenex, Scott and WypAll, at Bukit Lanjan (Lanjan Hill) as part of FSC Forest Week.

Bukit Lanjan is a popular hiking spot for the local community in the Damansara vicinity and was previously an Orang Asli (aboriginal) settlement of the Temuan tribe.

Kimberly-Clark was the first U.S tissue manufacturer to offer branded FSC®-certified products starting with Kleenex® facial tissue, and it is the first in the industry to have 100% of its suppliers certified as providing fibre from responsibly managed sources. In Malaysia, all of Kimberly-Clark’s products manufactured out of its mill in Kluang, Johor are FSC-certified (Kimberly-Clark Products (M) Sdn Bhd, FSC-C114474).

Find out more here.

 

Basic Builder workshop at Epic Homes

FSC Malaysia Country Manager, Charmaine Chee attended a “Basic Builder” workshop at Epic Homes, a non-profit organisation that build homes for marginalised communities in Malaysia, currently focusing on the Orang Asli in Peninsular Malaysia, with a view to collaborating in the future through the use of sustainable materials for the projects, participating in building homes, and working towards improving the livelihoods of local communities.

Check For the Tree and Pose with the Bear! A collaboration with Qra, a neighbourhood grocer

In the spirit of raising consumer awareness about sustainable forest management, FSC and responsible sourcing/consumption, FSC Malaysia placed a bear standee at Qra’s three outlets within Klang Valley. Qra customers are encouraged to #CheckForTheTree, i.e. look for products with the FSC label, take a picture (featuring the product) together with the bear, and post it on social media.

With a few simple actions, we can all do our part to create thriving, resilient forests, fight climate change, protect biodiversity and improve livelihoods of communities.

Take a simple stand. Make a wild difference. 

Last but not least, a big thank you to our colleagues at FSC International for creating and sharing the beautiful FSC Forest Week 2022 campaign assets!